


Havey-Cavey Business Plans

by katayla



Category: The Way to Game the Walk of Shame - Jenn P. Nguyen
Genre: Alternate Universe - Regency, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-10 20:13:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8937550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katayla/pseuds/katayla
Summary: How to game the walk of shame in Regency England.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mystarsandmyocean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mystarsandmyocean/gifts).



**Evan**

"Please."

Lady Taylor had pretended we didn't know each other since last week, so I'd been pretty surprised when she'd sent word through her best friend's husband asking if I was going to Almack's tonight and demanding that I ask her to dance.

"The rumors won't last more than a season," I said.

"And then I'll be a year older and my sister will be a year closer to her season and my family will not have grown any richer. I need to marry this season, Lord Evan."

"Well, you're not marrying _me_." I was quite happy with my single life and not eager to change that anytime soon. And it wasn't my fault the _ton_ was a bunch of busybodies. Taylor had followed me outside at a ball last week to argue with me about something, people had noticed, and to hear her tell it, her reputation would never recover.

"I don't want to marry you. I just need you to court me seriously."

"No," I said.

"Not for the whole season," Lady Taylor said. "Perhaps for two months. Then we can split amicably and I can marry . . . . " Her eyes scanned the crowded room and then she shrugged. "Someone."

"Surely you have a better plan than that. Aim high, darling."

"No, I don't! I might have, but I'm lucky enough I didn't have my Almack's invitation revoked."

"It was one conversation. We were outside for barely two minutes."

"It doesn't matter. You're a rake and my reputation had been spotless."

"Being seen with me ruined you, so you want to be seen with me _more_?"

"I'm not ruined!" The words came out loud and I saw some raised eyebrows in our direction and heard a twitter or two. "And if you can just pretend to be wildly in love with me . . . people love a good reformed rake."

I tilted my head. "I have to reform?"

"For two months! Maybe three."

"Taylor!"

And she glared at me. " _Lady_ Taylor. Although maybe I should give you permission to use my given name. That might further add to the illusion of intimacy."

But that only got me thinking about other forms of intimacy. "I suppose wildly in love men don't, ahem, spend time with other women?"

" _No_. Oh, never mind. This is pointless."

She started to walk off the dance floor and then froze. I followed her gaze to see a clutch of debutantes whispering and giggling, not even trying to hide the fact they were watching the two of us. And Taylor's shoulders slumped, but then she took a deep breath and started walking again.

And something in that silent motion did what none of her words did. She convinced me.

"All right," I said, hurrying to her side. "I will call on you tomorrow."

**Taylor**

Surprisingly, Lord Evan came as promised. My callers had fallen off in the last week, as none but my closest friends visited. So I was sitting alone, not really expecting anyone except Carly to show up.

"Do I have permission to take Lady Taylor riding?" he asked my mother, after ten minutes of polite conversation.

"Oh yes!" My mother nearly clapped her hands together in delight. My mother loved me, but I was a failure when it came to romance. Even last year, in my first season, I hadn't wanted to gossip with her about gentlemen. She was forever asking if I had a preference. All I wanted was a reasonably intelligent and reasonably well off man. They were harder to find than you'd think.

Lord Evan and I were soon at the park, crawling slowly in a long line of carriages. I eyed him silently, wondering whatever had possessed me to follow him into the night. I never made mistakes. Ever. I knew the rules and I followed them and it would get me where I wanted to be. So I had no business fighting with rakes and certainly no business being alone with them.

"If you're going to stare, at least try to look like you like what you see," Evan said.

And I flushed and looked away. Lord Evan was handsome, but what did that matter? He was no proper match for me. I didn't need a loyal husband, but I was hoping for one a bit . . . nicer.

"Lady Taylor!" Lucy strolled up to the carriage. "How are you?"

So I knew the plan worked. She had all but given me the cut direct only last night. Now that I was in the company of Lord Evan, I was fit to speak to again. I may know the rules, but I didn't have to like them.

When she left, I couldn't help but let out a long sigh. Not very proper, but then I wasn't trying to impress Lord Evan.

"A close friend, then?" He asked.

"Her friendship is worth cultivating."

He shook his head. "So your friendships are as fake as your courtships."

"My friendships aren't fake!" Except for with Lucy. And Lauren. And--well, I had Carly.

I didn't have time to explain all of that to Lord Evan because Lady Peters stopped to chat.

"Lady Taylor, how _are_ you?" She gushed, as if she hadn't been one of the worst of the gossips. Her disapproving eyes and whispers had followed me throughout the last week.

When she finally left, I leaned back against my seat and closed my eyes.

"What's the matter?" Lord Evan asked. "Your plan is working. I counted fifteen approving nods."

"Nothing," I said. "I was right, as always."

I saw him roll his eyes at that and expected him to drop the subject, but instead he asked, "Taylor, what is it?"

And the sound of his voice as he said my name . . . I was not one of those who believed reformed rakes made the best husbands, but I was starting to see the appeal. And he continued looking at me, not with the stern eyes the _ton_ had cast at me this past week, but like he truly wanted to know what I thought.

"Doesn't it ever strike you as terribly unjust? Being seen with you hurt my reputation and now--"

But before I could finish the sentence, another carriage slowed next to us.

I had never been so popular in my life. Maybe I should've planned to do this all along.

**Evan**

It wasn't so awful, courting a proper lady. I went to more balls and fewer clubs--and I missed the company of the not-so-proper ladies--but I admired Taylor's fierce determination. She knew what she wanted and how to get it. And she continually impressed me with her insights into our society.

"Men don't marry at 18," she said, during one of our afternoons in the park. "Why should I?"

"Because--" And yet I didn't know how to finish that sentence.

"I like that you don't have all the answers," she said.

"Because you do?"

"No!" She looked off into the distance. "You're willing to listen. Thank you."

And then she looked away and wouldn't talk to me until the next member of the _ton_ stopped by. And I went home smiling because who would ever believe that Lady Taylor would compliment me?

That night, I convinced her to dance with me three times. We always danced the first and dinner dance together, but now I asked for the last dance as well.

"What will people say?" she asked.

And I raised my eyebrows. "I thought we _wanted_ them to say things..

Taylor didn't say anything, but took my hand and let me lead her to the dance floor. Maybe she, too, had started to forget that none of this real. Her intelligence, her drive, her beauty . . . none of it was meant for me. 

**Taylor**

"You look wonderful this evening," Evan said to me. We were at Carly and Aaron's for a dinner party and he rushed through his greetings and came to my side.

"No one can hear you," I said. The rest of the guests were busy with their own conversations.

"I mean it," he said, looking me in the eyes until I dropped my gaze from his.

I so seldom received such compliments. Something about my toilette was always a little off. My dress would be wrinkled, my hair disheveled. My maid tried and my mother ensured that I wore the latest fashions, but somehow it never lasted very long. Tonight, though, I was determined to look my best. After all, Carly was still new to hosting. I had to support my best friend.

Evan escorted me into dinner and, after dinner, came back to the drawing room with Aaron (who hadn't lingered with the men since he and Carly first started courting). He stayed by my side and nobody paid much attention to us at all.

Which, I concluded with an inward sigh, meant that we should probably end this charade soon. If the _ton_ didn't care about us anymore, then I didn't need Evan anymore. I would miss having a regular escort, somebody who spent time with me at every ball, who took me out riding and made me laugh.

But that was silly, wasn't it? We still moved in the same circles. He was still Aaron's best friend and Carly was mine. I wasn't losing him at all.

**Evan**

"What's wrong?" I asked Taylor. We had been riding for ten minutes and while riding wasn't always conducive to conversation, it was for us. We would keep our horses close together and tell each other our family and childhood. She told me that her father let her read all of his books and that she was sure she would've taken a first in all manner of subjects.

So I told her what almost no one knew--that I had taken a first in science. And she made me promise to bring her any books I had kept from my studies. Her father's taste ran to literature and law. It was hardly proper, but I brought her the books the very next day.

Now, though, she was quiet and I ran through all of the events of the past few days. I had been the perfect gentleman, hadn't I?

"I'm perfectly fine," she said, and rode in front of me.

I frowned at her back. She was acting like we didn't know each other, when by all outward appearances, we were practically betrothed. But then maybe I was so good I had fooled myself into seeing something that wasn't there. Taylor _wasn't_ my betrothed and she never would be. I couldn't forget that.

**Taylor**

"Nobody ever talks to me except to ask questions about you and Evan," Carly said. It was a month since Evan and I had begun courting (false courting, I reminded myself) and my reputation seemed secure. I had told Evan not to call so that I could spend time with my best friend.

"What do you tell them?"

She smiled wickedly. "That you're bound to run off to Gretna Green any day."

I shot her a suspicious look. "That would hardly help my reputation."

"I tell them that you are happy and Evan is an angel."

I took a sip of my tea. "I've been thinking it's about time for us to start being a little less happy."

Carly pursed her lips. "You are happy, yes?"

"I suppose." I was so focused on making the _ton_ see me as a respectable woman that I hadn't stopped to consider the question. Was I happy? I was happy that my plan worked. As for the rest . . . and I flashed back to last night when Evan wheedled me into dancing with him for a third time again and the way his touches when he helped me in and out of the carriage had grown longer and longer.

"So why not keep it that way?"

"Because I can't marry Evan!"

"Why not? He fits your criteria of reasonably intelligent and is more than reasonably well off."

"Because I can't marry Lord Evan!" And, in a smaller, quieter voice, "He wouldn't want to marry me."

**Evan**

_Because I can't marry Lord Evan._

I knew Taylor hadn't meant me to hear, most likely did not realize I was in the house, visiting my own best friend while she visited hers, but the words stopped me in my tracks. It wasn't that I wanted to marry Taylor, but hearing her say it like that . . . I thought we had at least managed a sort of friendship. Instead, we were back to her wanting nothing to do with me.

Beside me, Aaron was looking at me with sympathy. "She didn't mean it like that."

"Taylor means everything she says. And I don't care. I did what I said I would. Her reputation is saved. She's free to marry some boring gentleman and have her life turn out exactly as planned."

Because of course Lady Taylor Simmons was always right and always in control of everything.

That night, I dressed for the ball on time and then instructed my driver to drive up and down the streets of London instead of taking me to the house. So Taylor didn't want to marry me. I knew that all along. It was only that she seemed to be thinking of me in a slightly more positive way and I'd liked it, that someone like her didn't mind spending time with me. Even seemed to enjoy it.

I hadn't expected that. And yet it was time for this scheme to come to an end. Taylor needed enough time to find another candidate for marriage before the season ended. Not another. _A_ candidate because I was never one at all.

So that was how it was. And I told my driver to go to the ball.

**Taylor**

I wasn't really in the mood for a ball, but I couldn't afford to skip it, even if everyone was now gossiping about me in a much more positive way. So I did my best to forget my conversation with Carly. Only . . . Evan wasn't at the ball and nobody else danced like him or talked like him. And it was about time for me to stop thinking that way. Evan wasn't for me. Wasn't for anyone right now. In ten years, twenty, he would find a debutante who didn't appreciate him at all.

After another dance with a lord who was once high on my list of marriage candidates, I slipped off to the retiring room and ignored the now familiar giggles and nudges from the other ladies in the room. 

I suppose, soon enough, I would go back to being ignored. My plan was a success. Good. That's what I wanted.

I noticed when Evan arrived. It was late, but he was dressed as immaculately as usual. What would it be like to be married to such a man? I would never know. He saw me across the room and nodded and started to make his way across to me, but Aaron stopped him and they walked off, probably to play cards.

Well. That would only aid this part of the plan. He would ignore me and we would fall out of love in front of the _ton._ I saw an earl heading my way, so I started walking back towards the retiring room. Instead, I ran into Carly.

"Taylor!" she said, grabbing my arm as if we hadn't chatted for an hour earlier today. "Let's walk."

And she led me out of the ballroom. "We can't talk in there?" I asked.

She waved a hand. "It's too loud. Let's go to the library."

It wasn't the first time we'd snuck out of a ball together, but it was the first time since Evan and I had started seeing each other. So I wasn't prepared for what we found in the library.

Aaron. And Evan.

"Taylor!" Evan said.

"I'm going back to the ball," I said, and turned to leave but Carly stepped in front of me, and turned me around.

"Aaron and I have to decided to share our wisdom as a married couple."

"You've been married 8 months," Evan said.

"You see," Carly continued. "You can't be in a relationship with someone without communication."

"We're not in a relationship," I said.

"And because Aaron and I communicate, we have discovered some interesting facts about you two."

"So," Aaron said. "We think you should discuss these facts."

And he and Carly made a bolt for the door and were gone before Evan or I could manage to move.

"I suppose that's locked," Evan said, staring at the door.

"I could probably crawl out a window," I said.

"No, you couldn't."

"It's either that or be stuck in here all night."

"They can't keep us in here forever."

"Care to place a wager on that?"

He sighed, and started pacing the room. "Any idea what they're talking about?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Have you been talking to Aaron about me?"

"Have you been talking to Carly about me?"

I tossed my head and sat down. "She's my best friend."

"And he's mine."

Evan made another circuit of the room and then suddenly sat next to me. "I was at their house today. I heard you."

"You were eavesdropping!"

"I was walking by--and that's not the point. You don't want to marry me."

"I never said that!"

"Yes, you did. You said, 'I can't marry Lord Evan.' "

" _Can't_ , not--" and I clapped my hands over my mouth, but it was too late.

He was grinning and reached over to take my hand. "Finish the sentence, Taylor."

"I have nothing else to say. And you don't want to marry _me_."

"Care to place a wager on that?"

And after we were silent for a suitable amount of time (or unsuitable, depending on your point of view), we heard the door opening. We broke apart to see Carly and Aaron smiling at us.

"You know," Carly said. "You've been unchaperoned in here for an awfully long time. You might just have to get married to save your reputations."

And so we did.


End file.
